


Sugar

by bluestargirl6 (pressdbtwnpages)



Category: The OC RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-25
Updated: 2004-08-25
Packaged: 2017-10-04 11:19:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pressdbtwnpages/pseuds/bluestargirl6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>All he wanted was a cup of sugar... Instead he's discussing his past relationships with Spike.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Sugar

**Author's Note:**

> For [](http://blkqueenphoenix.livejournal.com/profile)[**blkqueenphoenix**](http://blkqueenphoenix.livejournal.com/)'s birthday.

Ben hates that he's about to do this. He hates that Adam isn't here to do it for him. And then he thinks about Ryan. Ryan probably had to go knock on neighbors doors being for medical attention, or at least a place to sleep. And Ben's Ryan, so really, knocking on his neighbor's door shouldn't be a big deal.

Ben raps once, and figures he can always turn around and leave.

"Yeah?" A sleep and smoke filled male voice answers. The door jerks open and Ben blinks a couple times. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah," Ben holds up his measuring cup. "Can I have some sugar?"

The guy raises his eyebrow and he looks really, really familiar. "You want some sugar?"

"For coffee," Ben explains.

"Uh-huh."

He's Spike! Ben lives next door to Spike! Only he doesn't have an English accent, so that makes him… James. Like Ben isn't Ryan if he isn't wearing the wristcuff.

"James, right? Marsters?" Damn Adam for making Ben know that. Fucking Adam. Ben winces.

"Not a fan?" James guesses.

"Sorry. Separate thought."

"Hey! You're fucking Ryan Atwood!" James exclaims and sort of pulls Ben into his apartment.

"Uh, yeah. Ben Sch... McKenzie," Ben extends his hand. "You're an O.C. fan?"

"That Seth guy. He's hot."

Ben can feel the flush in his cheeks. All he wanted was a cup of sugar. Sugar. How hard was that? Instead he's discussing his past relationships with Spike.

"What? You hittin' that?" James asks.

"Not currently," Ben's sort of surprised at how bitter he sounds.

"End badly?"

"You read People?" Ben asks.

"Ehh," James shrugs.

"He has a girlfriend."

James nods sagely, and Ben would love to know what experience made James so wise.

"Married girlfriend," James says, as if reading his mind.

_Sarah Michelle Gellar_. The thought springs to Ben's mind.

"Co-star?"

"Maybe," in a way that totally means yes.

"Adam would kill to know that!" Ben grins.

"You're still friends then?"

"Sort of. I guess. He thinks we are anyway."

"Mostly-straight boys can be so dumb," James sighs and drops to his knees.

Ben thinks he knows what James is about to do and his brain is going haywire. 'Can I have some sugar?' Duh. And Adam would absolutely die to be blown by Spike, Ben grins and then he grins wider and then his mind short-circuts entirely.

******

Ben sort of doesn't ever expect to see James again after that. Well, he knows he'll see him. Kind of hard not to living in the same apartment building. But Ben certainly isn't counting on another blow-job.

So it's a little bit of a surprise when Ben winds up in an elevator with him. It's more than a little uncomfortable that Adam happens to be with him at the time. They're not together or anything. Guys night. Beer and pizza to be involved. And Josh Schwartz. But not in a kinky way.

Anyway, Ben gets into the elevator and Adam follows.

"Ben," James greets him, glances at Adam, cocks his head.

"Hey James. This is Adam," Ben indicates the other guy. "Groceries?"

"Sugar," James states with a smile. "I didn't want to run out. You know, in case…"

Adam shoots a confused look in Ben's direction. Ben laughs and loves that he has inside jokes that Adam doesn't get. That his life isn't all about Adam anymore, even though it sort of is.

"If you run out," Ben offers, "you can always get some from me."

******

It's like 11 o'clock at night and Ben's just gotten back from an excruciating night on set when there's a knock at the door.

"Go' any suga'?" A British accent asks.

"Hey James," Ben opens the door. "What's up?"

"You've been getting in late," The accent is gone.

"Yeah. Shooting's been going long," Ben rolls his eyes and welcomes James in, wondering why this feels so natural.

"Adam?" James guesses.

"He makes everyone crack up. We never get anything done!"

Ben drops to his knees.

"What are you doing?"

"You wanted some sugar," Ben explains and James doesn't complain anymore.

******

Ben's been the older one in his relationships ever since, always actually. He's also been the man. Even with Adam.

Not that Ben prescribed to the theory that all relationships needed a "man" and a "woman", or that Adam's particularly feminine. Adam is Adam. And also Seth. Just like Ben is also Ryan. In that tangled up relationship Ben could never be sure whether Adam was fucking him or Ryan, or if Ben was fucking Adam or Seth. Sometimes it felt like their alter-egos had shoved Adam and Ben aside and were continuing their own grand love affair.

Ryan and Spike had never had a grand love affair. Ryan and Spike never met. They didn't exist in each others worlds. They can't exist in the same time and place, copyright laws aside, and therefore there can be no subtext. And Ryan and Spike canonically, are also not gay.

Which simplifies everything.

So much more than it ever could have been with Adam, the Rachel issue aside.

James is older than Ben. James is also clearly the man. Ben thinks the differences are good. That maybe being with James will help Ben see the bigger picture, get out of his rut. He's not kidding himself, Ben knows that he and James will never last. Part of Ben half expects it to fizzle out quickly, but he knows that before it does, James will take him on the ride of his life.


End file.
